Brushing machine



April 26, 1938. l. w. WOLFNER BRUSHING MACHINE 2 lSheets-Sheet l FiledNov. 28, 1934 f' INY'NTD- EY. la.; 'am y ATTYS.

April 26, 1938. l. w. woLFNr-:R

BRUSHING MACHINE Filed Nov. es, 1954 '2 Sheets-Sheet 2 TTT'E PatentedApr. 26, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BRUSHING MACHINE' Ira W.Wolfner, Peoria, Ill.

Application November 28, 1934, Serial No. 755,104

2 Claims.

This invention is directed` to barrel cleaning machinery, and has forone of its objects the provision of a brush mechanism and mechanismassociated therewith for brushing the interior surfaces of barrels orother circular articles.

Another object is to provide a rotating circular brush adapted to beinserted in a barrel or the like and to automatically adjust itsdiameter to that of the barrel.

A further object lies in the provision of a rotatable circular brushadapted to be inserted in a barrel or the like and to automaticallyadjust its diameter to that of the barrel, in combination with means forrotating the brush and manually controlled means for moving the brushperpendicular to its plane of rotation whereby it may be movedlongitudinally of the barrel to be placed in contact with all interiorsurfaces thereof. An additional object is to Aprovide a mechanismcapable of moving a brush Within a barrel in combination with abrushrwhich, by reason of its inherent exibility, is capable ofautomatically adjusting its diameter to that of the barlel.

Another object is to provide a mechanism as noted in combination with abrush mechanism capable of automatically adjusting its diameter inaccordance with the interior contour of a barrel and having meanswhereby the diameter of the brush may be manually adjusted.

A further object is to provide a mechanism, as aforesaid, wherein thebrushing mechanism comprises a plurality of brushes revolving inplanetary relation.

An additional object is to provide a mechanism of the class describedwherein the brushing action is modied by the speed of rotation Vof thebrushes.

Additional 4objects will appear in the following description andaccompanying drawings in which;

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of my device as the same would appearready for use;

Fig. 2 is a fragmental View Yshowing details of a brush mechanism to bedescribed; A

Fig. 3 is a plan view taken on line 3-3 in Fig. 5, showing details of abrush mechanism to be explained;

Fig. 4 is a plan View taken on line 4--4 in Fig. 6;

Fig. 5 is a fragmental side elevational View showing details of a brushand operating mechanism to be referred to, and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to that shownV in Fig.

5 showing details of a modified form of brushV ing, scrubbing orcleaning barrels and the like and to this end I provide a mechanism asshown in Fig. 1, comprising a frame structure I0, upon which is mounteda motor II having driving connection with a vertical shaft I2 throughmitre gears I3 and I4, a shaft I6 and suitable gears I'I.

MotorA II is herein shown as a driving means .for the apparatus,although driving power from any source may be utilized. In some cases,as will be hereinafter explained, a variable speed drive may be used.Various driving apparatus are thought sufficiently well known to obviatedetail description.

Shaft I6 is journalled in bearings I8, disposed in the frame structure,and shaft I2 is journalled in upper and lower bearings I9 and 20disposed Q0 in bracket portions of the frame.

Shaft I2 is provided with a longitudinalkeyway 2|. Gear I3 is mademovable on shaft I2 and is provided with a key engaged in Vkeyway 2Iwhereby gear I3 is maintained in driving relationship with shaft I2while the shaft may be freely moved longitudinally within the gear.

The air hoist mechanism 24 is conventionalV and is supported upon theupper part of frame I0 as shown. It is adapted to be operated by air orwater from any source and is controlled to operate the piston 22 andshaft I2 by means of a valve mechanism 275, which latter is mechanicallyor manually operated, as will be explained, through a vertical rod 2lilwhich is connected with a hand lever 2'I as shown.

The hand lever is pivotally supported at 28 and suitably counterbalancedby a weight 29.

Secured to the lower Yend of the air-hoist piston is an extending armmember 22', and upon the rod 26 there is secured upper and lower collars26 and 26".

The collars are so adjusted that arm 22' will engage them when piston 22reaches predetermined positions in its upward and downward stroke. Avalve 24 is disposed in the air line leading from valve mechanism 25 toYthe upper end of the air hoistcylinder whereby operation `of the hoistmechanism to lower the piston 22 may Vthe lower end of a barrel 33, asshown in dottedv outline. Frame 32is disposed in` axial lalignment withshaft l2 and forms a means whereby a barrelmay be quickly andaccuratelyspotted Vin position to be operated on by the brush.

The lower end of the-barrel here shown communicates with arduct 34 bymeans ofl which air may be exhausted through the barrel to carry awayany material removed from the barrel by the brush.

YAssuming shaft I2 to be in more or less rapid Y rotation, operationofthe device is accomplished by manipulation ofk handle 21 to causeair-hoist 24 to propel the shaft andbrush 30 downwardly.

The material of the brush beingexible, contact with` the top of thebarrel brings about la Adishing action as indicated at Band throughoutcontinued downward movement of thebrush the tips thereof are heldinContactV with the interior ksur- Y face of thebarrel asindicated at Cand D.

n ro

Continued downward movement ofthe brush eventually places it in positionEin which posin tion it again assumes its normally flat con-` formity.Upon return movement, the brush is distorted in reverse manner as at Fand the same movements are vrepeated in-reverse order.

It is tobe noted that the centrifugal force set up during rapid rotationof the brushwill add to the normal tendency ofthe fibres thereof toremain in plane position as at A. y,When the brush fibres are distortedas atB their normal tendency is to assume a plane position whichmovement is opposed by the surface of the barrel. The con- -tactpressure between Vthe barrel surface and brush tips obviously dependsupon the stiffness of the-brush fibresy and their ability to resistdistortion. Further, with the brush fibres.v distorted, the centrifugalforce noted is active to increase the contact pressure. Thus the contactpressure may be modified by varying the rotational speed of the brush.

The Yarm 22 and .collars 26 and 26Y areprovided for the purpose ofassisting an attendant in operating the brush as above described.

I The collars are adjusted to be engaged by the arm when the pistonreaches the end of a desired stroke. A that when hand lever .21 iselevated the air of the hoist is directedsoas to lower the piston;whereas when the hand leverisdepressed the piston is elevated. Withvalve 2K4 'closed the piston may be elevated in the usual manner but' a.lowering stroke thereof is prevented. f

It will now become apparentthat to'operat the brush as described anattendant has but to open valve 24 whereupon air will be admitted to theupper endof the hoist cylinder'to force piston 22 downwardly. f 4 f Suchmovement will eventually bringarm 22' into engagement with collar 26"andl continued movement-will cause `downward movement of hand lever 21to direct air into the lowerend of the cylinder to elevate thai piston.,Elevational The valve mechanism 2,5'is kso larranged Y movement of thepiston places arm 26i in engagement with upper co1lar'26fto bring abouta reversal of the movement above described.

In this manner the brush is automatically caused to travel forwardlyrand backwardly through the barrel for any desired length of time.

Arrestment of the reciprocal movement dek scribed may be brought aboutby means of the closing of valve 24 or any other obvious means. Byadjustment of collar 26'Yout of the stroke collar 26"'to reverse thevalve 25 and automatically cause the piston tobe elevated. There beingno automatici. reverse movement brought v about at vthe upper end of thestroke, the piston will obviously remain in elevated position pendingfiuther manipulation of hand lever 21.

In the work of cleaning barrels it is often desired to operate upon abarrel having a bottom member tted therein and, due to the dished formof thebrush and contact of the hub thereof as -in Fig. 2 wherein thebrush has additional brushingkelements 35V which are angularly di-Yrected in position to contact the lower portions of a barrel.

In Figs. 3 and 5 I show a brush mechanism adapted for use with my devicewhich includes a cone member 36 secured to frame lil, below which is ahub member 31 secured to shaftY l2, the same having radially directedextending portions 38 Whichcarry pivotally mounted arms 39. The

upper ends of arms 39 are provided with rollers* 40 and the'lower endsthereof are provided with outwardly directedv brushrelements lll.

It'will be apparent that rapid rotation of shaft |2wil1 set upcentrifugal force tending to propel brushes 4l outwardly. With ktheparts in position shown in solidl lines, the brushes `are obviouslyheldin contracted position. Downwardr ing of the brushes will obviouslycontrol the pressure exerted upon the barrel surface by the brushesandensure that the brushes will follow *theY interior'contour of thebarrel with fidelity.

`It is to be notedrthat a member having any Y suitable conformity maybesubstituted for cone 36 to cause the brushes to follow any arbitrarypattern or contour.

The latter described brush mechanism may be used for thesame purpose asthat notedin connecton; with brush 30, but has preferred application forcertain work suchfas, for example,

where it isr desired to ymore vigorously brush or4 scrape vvthe interiorsurface of d containers. Y

The brushing elements 4I may be made from wire or the .likewhich hassulcient stiffness to preclude its satisfactory use in a brusharrangement such as 30.

A stif brush would, for instance, bey particularly effective when usedfor the purpose of removing charcoal from used whiskey barrels, Where ascratching or scraping action is desired.

As an additional modification of my brush mechanism I show, in Figs. 4and 6, a mechanism including the usual drive shaft I2 to which issecured a spider frame 42 carrying a plurality of shafts 43 journalledin boss portions 44.

Circular brushes 45 are secured to the lower ends of shafts 43 andpinions 46 are secured to the upper ends thereof.

Pinions 46 are arranged in planetary relation to revolve with and abouta sun gear 4l which is secured to a sleeve member 48. The sleeve is madeslidable in bearing 20 and has a longitudinal groove 49 in which isengaged an inwardly extending portion of a screw 5D which is mounted inthe body structure of bearing 20.

The described arrangement provides a mechanism in which shaft I2 isvertically movable and rotatable in the usual manner, to rotate brushes45 about the center of the shaft, while sleeve 48, carrying gear 41 isvertically movable unitarily with the shaft but is stationary as torotation.

It will be apparent that rotation of shaft l2 will bring about planetaryrotation of brushes 45 while at the same time the brushes will berevolved about their axes.

The foregoing arrangement may be particularly useful when it is desiredto use the apparatus for scrubbing operation in a receptacle, wherein itis desirable to utilize a brush made from animal or vegetable fibreswhich may be too soft to admit the use of long bristles such as would berequired in brush 30.

Numerous additional modifications of the structure of my device arepossible. VVHowever, I do not wish to be limited in structure orprinciple except within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A device of the class described including a vertically disposedrotating shaft,a brush secured to the lower end thereof, a receptacledisposed to hold a barrel in position to receivev said brush, said shaftbeing longitudinally movable to insert the brush in the barrel and movethe same longitudinally thereof, said brush comprising a hub portionhaving radially extending flexible brushing fibres normally lyingparallel to the plane of. its rotation, said brush having an externaldiameter larger than the interior of the barrel whereby, when the brushis inserted in the barrel the fibres thereof are distorted out of saidplane line with the tips thereof resiliently contacting the interiorsurface of the receptacle, an air cylinder and piston disposed in axialalignment with said shaft, a rotatable coupling connecting the pistonwith said shaft, valves controlling operation of said piston and meanson the piston engaging said valves so as to automatically causecontinuous reciprocal movement of said piston and brush.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 provided with means for rotating thebrush at controlled predetermined speed to thereby control thecentrifugal force set up in the brush elements where-V by the pressureof. the brush tips upon the interior surface of the receptacle ismodilied in accordance with the speed of rotation of the brush. f

IRA W. WOLFNER.

